A depressing start to the school year

By RACHEL TOLBERT KIMBRO, HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Updated 9:27 pm, Sunday, August 21, 2011

Monday marks the first day of school for more than 200,000 children in the Houston Independent School District. Although our children are enjoying a fresh start, recent state budget cuts and looming federal budget cuts threaten this sense of optimism.

On average, more than one-quarter of the children in a Texas public school classroom live under the federal poverty line - about $22,000 per year for a family of four in 2011. But the federal poverty line is outdated, and families need much more just to meet basic needs. Nationwide, fully 42 percent of children live in low-income households - households with incomes less than twice the federal poverty line. In Houston, rates are far worse. According to the Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP) and the Annie E. Casey Foundation's KIDS COUNT Data Center, 53 percent of Houston children with U.S.-born parents live in low-income families, as do fully 68 percent of children with foreign-born parents.

In addition, the Texans Care for Children organization notes that Texas ranks dead last among U.S. states in many indicators of child well-being - including food insecurity (children experiencing hunger), access to adequate housing and the proportion of children without health insurance. Food insecurity and economic instability are so bad in Texas that huge backlogs in paperwork for food stamps delayed benefits for tens of thousands of families well beyond the federally mandated time of 30 days to determine eligibility.

The massive cuts to public education approved last spring in Austin also will have long-lasting and devastating consequences for the children of our state. CPPP estimates that Texas schools must manage cuts, on average, of nearly $1,000 per student just when the needs of our students are increasing. Although earlier this month HISD restored some funding to schools that had been previously cut, the severity of the reductions mandated by the Legislature won't come to fruition for another year or longer. It is clear that dark times are ahead for the hard-working employees and families of Texas schools.

Gov. Rick Perry, who is now running for president, is extolling the increase in jobs in Texas during his administration on the national news. Perhaps the low regulations and low taxes in Texas are beneficial to job creation. But Texans need to ask ourselves: At what cost? Fully 37 percent of the jobs Texas added last year paid at or below minimum wage; we now lead the nation in the number of minimum-wage workers. Are these low-paying jobs - while better than no jobs - really enough for our state, given the reality that so many of our children lack access to sufficient food, health care and adequate housing?

Texas' economic situation may look relatively strong at first glance, but even the most cursory glance under the hood should give citizens and policymakers a lot to worry about. As your child or grandchild starts school today, ask yourself if you want them growing up in a state that ranks dead last on so many indicators of child well-being. Where are our priorities, Texas?